Law and Order

If we are to restore general confidence in the justice system and move forward to more enlightened solutions to reduce the level of reoffending then the perceptions of the public that the current systems are unfair and unclear must be addressed. Sentences must be decided by the judiciary and must reflect all the circumstances and be fair to both the victim and the guilty. They must be served in full for clarity and certainty but must not be as lengthy as current terms. If released early then the public must know that this is on licence which is properly resourced so that it is effective. When public confidence is restored then openness and full and certain provision resources must be guaranteed so that we can move forward to more enlightened solutions such as restorative justice. We must also put an end to “targets” which become an end in themselves and move forward to a service based on peoples desire generally to do a good job with proper resources, supervision,and clear direction. Perhaps Gordon Brown will confound us and really relax central control and move power away from the centre. If so then we may see a move towards respect by Government for schools, teachers,hospitals, nurses, police, firemen and the rest instead of denigration which encourages a view amongst some that if that is what the government think then anything goes and standards go down the pan.